Seite - 210 - in Maximilian Hell (1720–92) - And the Ends of Jesuit Science in Enlightenment Europe

Chapter 5210 emblematic status, but they did not reach the area targeted by the Hell expedi- tion, which thus held out the promise of a wealth of new information capable of breaking new ground in several fields of knowledge. This chapter describes how the Vardø expedition, originally conceived as confined to astronomical observation, turned into a more comprehensive scientific endeavor of virtually encyclopedic scope, with astronomy forming only a part of the research program. 1 A Journey Finished and Yet Unfinished Hell’s idea of expanding the scientific ambitions of an astronomy-motivated expedition was by no means unique. Besides curiosity, some of the motivation was purely pragmatic and utilitarian. A statement by Cassini de Thury in a pa- per on the Venus transits in the proceedings of the Académie Royale des Sci- ences is typical: When such long voyages are undertaken, one must have more than one object, so that in case the essential goal cannot be accomplished, it will be possible in some measure to remedy the damage. Otherwise, one may be forced to take comfort in having traveled more than a thousand leagues only to gaze at the Sun for six hours and find it eclipsed, not by the planet, but by a cloud.5 Closer to home, a similar view was expressed by Scherffer in a letter to Weiss as early as 1750, offering Weiss advice on the aims and scope of a planned expedi- tion to survey the Portuguese dominions in Brazil. Scherffer emphasized that his colleague should prepare to undertake not only geodetic work but also to make delicate barometrical observations, investigate the running of pendulum för idé- och lärdomshistoria, Uppsala universitet, 1990), esp. 183–85; Florian Wagner, Die Ent­ deckung Lapplands: Die Forschungsreisen Carl von Linnés und Pierre Louis Moreau de Mauper­ tuis’ in den 1730er Jahren (Norderstedt: Books on Demand, 2004), esp. 22–30; Päivi Maria Pihlaja, “The Study of the North in the 18th Century: Knowledge of Lapland in Europe, and Its Significance for Foreign Scholars,” in The North Calotte: Perspectives on the Histories and Cul­ tures of Northernmost Europe, ed. Maria Lähteenmäki and Päivi Maria Pihlaja, Helsingin yli- opiston historian laitoksen julkaisuja 18 (Inari: Puntsi, 2005), 25–37; Sigri Skjegstad Lockert, Havsvelget i nord: Moskstraumen gjennom årtusener (Stamsund: Orkana akademisk, 2011); Alessandra Orlandini Carcreff, Au pays des vendeurs de vent: Voyages et voyageurs en Laponie et Finlande du xve au xixe siècle (Aix: Presses universitaires de Provence, 2017). 5 César-François Cassini de Thury, “Remarques sur la conjonction de Vénus avec le Soleil, qui doit arriver le 6 Juin de l’année prochaine 1761,” hars (1762; paper read November 12, 1760): 334.